Dec 4 12 Days of Christmas: Sugar Cookie Turtle Doves

Nothing screams the holidays more than iced sugar cookies. We've been making this recipe since I was a kid and decorating them all kinds of ways. Last year I made giant snowflakes and delivered them to our neighbors, Christmas trees for the guys at the Christmas tree lot and ornaments with guests' names piped on them for a holiday party.

Sugar Cookies

This week I made turtle doves inspired by the "12 Days of Christmas." Since they are known as "love birds" I made them in pairs, kissing, naturally.

I went ahead and doubled the sugar cookie dough recipe because it freezes really well. Just roll it out in 1 inch thick rounds, wrap in plastic, throw in the freezer and pull out whenever guests pop by. You need to refrigerate the dough for about an hour before you roll it out anyway. If you are using it from the freezer, let thaw about 30 minutes so it's manageable.

Roll Out

Kids LOVE to help cut out and decorate sugar cookies. I have a huge collection of cookie cutters but I think it's fun to stick with a theme. Here, I did all birds. It's fun to do something like all different size Christmas trees and decorate them all different.

FinalCookies

I like to use Royal Icing because it dries hard and you can stack the cookies. I used Martha Stewart's Royal Icing recipe from her December issue (the cookies on the cover are adorable) but I didn't have any meringue powder so I ended up just substituting with egg whites and it worked perfectly (I also added a little vanilla for flavor).

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Divide the dough in half. Roll each half about 1/8 inch thick on a lightly floured surface. Cut into desired shapes. Place on a lightly greased baking sheet and bake for 7 to 8 minutes or until golden. Do not over bake (cookie will get hard). Immediately remove cookies from baking sheet and place on a wire cooling rack.